Jumping In
by Abydosorphan
Summary: A friendly get together turns into a bit more.
"That's inaccurate."

Daniel blinked several times as Sam's breath cascaded over his neck and ear. "Um… excuse me?" he whispered in reply.

Her head turned; the twinkle in her blue eyes apparent even in the dim light. "The scientific jargon they're spouting is completely inaccurate. It would never happen that way."

He couldn't help the bubble of laughter that rose up. Somehow when he had invited her out for dinner and a movie he'd neglected to account for some of the consequences of his decisions. He'd only been concerned with spending some time away from the SGC with one of his best friends, to try and get back the 'normal' life that they'd had before his Ascension.

"You know… most people would say the very same thing about what we do on a daily basis."

Her smile widened, "That's different."

He turned in his seat to face her fully, ignoring their location. "Oh? How so?"

"Most people don't know any different. These people…" she waved her hand to indicate the group before them, "are just wrong."

"You know, Sam, it is just a movie."

"Shhhhh!"

Sam giggled slightly and slumped down in her seat as the woman behind them shot Daniel an angry glare. He could feel the color rising to his cheeks and was thankful that no one would see it thanks to the low lighting. This had to be one of his worst non-dates ever.

* * *

Exiting the theater and heading into the rest of the mall, Daniel felt like he wanted to be invisible – again – as the woman from the row behind them brushed past mumbling something along the lines of "some people never grow up".

Sam just laughed, looping her arm through Daniel's. "I had a lot of fun, Daniel. Thanks."

He stopped dead in his tracks, almost throwing her off balance as she continued to move forward.

"Daniel?"

"You have got to be kidding me!"

She shook her head, her face taking on a slightly confused expression. "No… why?"

"You hated the movie!"

Shaking her head again, her eyes took on a mischievous gleam. "No, I didn't."

"But… but… you nitpicked everything about it. You listed all of the inaccuracies, all the things they did wrong, and everything that made it completely impossible and wrong…."

This time she nodded. "That, I did. And **that** is what made it so much fun. That, being with someone who at least partially understood what I was talking about, and almost getting kicked out of the theater."

"Almost getting us kicked out of the theater was fun for you?"

He was at least glad that she had the decency to look slightly embarrassed.

"Yeah. Chalk it up to my rebellious side."

He shook his head. "How long have I known you?"

"Oh, come on, Daniel, you've seen me hustle guys at pool at O'Malley's and you're surprised by this?"

Well, when she put it that way, she did have a point.

* * *

Strolling around the mall with Samantha Carter was a new experience all together. Stopping at the first coffee shop that they came to was no big surprise. He ordered his usual macchiato and was only mildly surprised to hear her order a mochaccino. Somehow he'd always figured her for a latte person.

Walking by, and then into, Victoria's Secret was something he'd never, in a million years, imagined them doing.

The longer they stayed the more he got the impression that somewhere along the road he'd done something to royally tick her off. She seemed to delight in observing how many different shades of scarlet he could turn.

They were close.

Very close.

The best of friends.

But he really didn't need to know what type of underwear she may or may not have on under her BDUs.

He was only human.

A perfectly normal, if previously ascended, male human.

How was he supposed to function, never mind work with her, having that kind of knowledge?

She hated him, and he had no idea why.

He finally made his escape to a bench not far from the entrance to the store and sat there waiting for her to finish. It wasn't long before she came out, carrying one small bag.

"I was wondering where you'd run off to."

"Yeah, I figured I was probably better off out here with my coffee."

Her light laughter met his ears, and he knew this was payback for something. It had to be. Especially since he now found that he couldn't take his eyes off of the little bag she had in her hand.

What had she wound up getting?

He certainly had no right to ask and virtually no right to know, but his curiosity persisted, nonetheless.

"So, any other stores you're dying to go to, or is this little shopping spree all for my benefit?" Sam's eyes twinkled with interest.

The words tore his eyes from the package in her hand and he shrugged. "Well, there's no place I really need to stop. I just figured we could walk for a bit before heading to dinner."

"Okay." She grabbed his hand as she started moving again. "In that case there's one more place I'd like to stop."

* * *

He was in hell.

He was in hell and seriously close to asking her what he'd done to deserve this.

He knew she was a woman – he'd have to be blind not to notice – but when had she gotten so girlie? And why couldn't she do the girlie things on her 'to do list' with Janet and Cassie?

Bath and Bodyworks, whilst nowhere near as embarrassing as Victoria's Secret, was not somewhere he'd thought they would have ended up. Couldn't she have taken him to a bike shop, or the science and technology store on the second floor?

Looking at the women in the store, and noticing them staring back in their direction, he got the distinct impression that everyone thought they were a couple.

At first he felt a little odd about that, especially since he was now holding Sam's Victoria's Secret bag and trying to convince himself of all the reasons why it would be a terrible, horrible, no good, bad idea to peek at the contents in any way.

And then Sam was sticking her wrist under his nose.

"What do you think of this one, Daniel?"

Inhaling gently, he got the distinct scent of floral perfume, and immediately felt the familiar twitch of his nostrils. Why couldn't ascension cure allergies?

Turning his head, he sneezed into his handkerchief, attracting even more attention. Once again he felt the heat rise to his cheeks.

"Okay, that one's definitely out. Can't have you sneezing whenever we're together."

That perked his ears up. Sure they spent a lot of time together but there was no reason she should be ruling out perfume just because it made him sneeze when she, quite literally, shoved it under his nose.

"I have that reaction to most perfumes, Sam. That's no reason for you not to buy it if you like it."

"Nah, it was just something new I thought I might try." She picked up another bottle from the shelf. "And you've never had a reaction to this one."

She put a slight dab on her other wrist and once again brought it to his nose, this time crossing the arm in front of her, making him aware of just how close they were standing.

He took a cautious sniff, catching the very familiar scent of sweet pea and lavender. He'd never known what it was until he started working more closely with her. She had it in everything; lotion, candles, shampoo, hand soap... you name it, she had it. Knowing her, she'd probably bought stock in the stuff. Even as he took a more generous sniff, he noticed that she was right, he wasn't sneezing.

"How did you know?" he asked, as she pulled him along toward the cashier.

"Remember when we first started working together?"

He rolled his eyes. Like he could forget that. "Yeah."

She slapped him gently on the arm. "Do you remember how you used to sneeze like crazy around me?"

"Sam, I sneezed like crazy around everyone and everything until Janet started me on those new meds."

"And put you through that round of allergy tests…."

"Yeah. So?"

"So when she was trying to rule out triggers I asked her to throw in a sample of the perfume I was using at the time. I was wondering if I was paranoid and it was just a coincidence, or if I was something that gave you a reaction. Turned out I wasn't paranoid."

"Oh." He wondered how, with all the rumors and scuttlebutt that traveled around the SGC, the fact that he had actually been allergic to one of his teammates had never gotten back to him. "I'm sorry."

She hugged his arm a little closer. "Nothing to apologize for. It wasn't one of my favorites anyway."

Exiting the store and letting Sam steer him off in the direction she wanted to head, Daniel saw two of the girls from inside the store still looking and pointing in their direction.

Yup, they totally looked like a couple. He was walking carrying both of Sam's bags in one hand (yeah, he was whipped too), her arms were wrapped around his other arm, and her head was resting lightly on his shoulder. And all he could think about was how to find out what was in her Victoria's Secret bag.

They walked for a bit, chatting every now and then about something they'd think of or notice as they went. But most of the walk was passed in companionable silence.

He wasn't sure how or when his hand had moved out of his pocket and hers had taken it, but by the time they arrived back at the movie theater they were hand-in-hand.

Walking across the parking lot, he felt more than heard her digging for her keys. Wordlessly, they stopped at her car and Daniel put both bags in the trunk, before they walked to O'Malley's.

The hostess seated them at one of the more private booths in the back, and Daniel experienced a slight pang of guilt over the pride he felt from the incredulous looks he got as from the men they passed. He knew that even though his years at the SGC had bulked him up, he still carried the overall 'geek' persona with him. Dressed in civilian clothing rather than military-issue BDUs, Samantha Carter easily passed as a trophy date - until she spoke. Then she was his wonderful, geeky theoretical astrophysicist.

They ordered their steaks and sodas and spent most of the evening talking about the silly things that had happened in the year he'd been gone. His memory had returned, and by this point he knew that there'd been nothing between them before except for a close, wonderful friendship.

So why did this feel so much more like a date?

"Daniel?"

Her voice and the touch of her hand on his pulled him from his thoughts, and he realized that he'd been staring into her eyes.

Blinking a few times he shook his head. "Sorry. Kind of drifted away a bit."

Her smile was soft, gentle. "No problem. You just…."

"What?"

She blushed slightly, her fingers brushing gently against the back of his hand. "You looked a bit… wistful, I guess."

He felt the color rise to his cheeks, hoping the dim lighting would obscure it from her sight. Sam's eyes widened briefly before looking away, her fingers fluttering against the back of his hand absently.

Daniel looked away, feeling the awkward silence drag on. These feelings were new to him and; how was he supposed to explain it all to her?

Pulling his hand away, he tried to brush it off. "I guess I am a little. So much has happened. I don't even remember all the things I experienced in my missing year, never mind all the things I didn't."

His voice trailed off toward the end. He felt like such an ass. The evening had been going so well and in five minutes he had managed to totally bring it down.

"You do remember everything from before, right? Your memory has returned?" Sam's voice was soft, caring and he had to close his eyes to fight back the surge of unfamiliar emotions that welled up.

"Yes, my memory is fine." He quirked a smile at her and tried to forget the odd sense of intimacy that he'd gotten from her since his return. "I think it's just been a long day. We should probably call it a night."

Her hand reached across and took his once more. "I'm glad you're back, Daniel. I've missed this… missed you."

He paid the bill before she could object, hoping that he didn't sound as stupid as he thought he did when he quipped about doing it again sometime.

Walking out of the restaurant, he almost jumped when she grasped his hand, linking her fingers with his and giving him a gentle squeeze.

He walked with her to her car, wishing he could think of something to say that might help to lighten the mood. Instead, he opted for getting out before he made a total idiot of himself. "Have a good night, Sam. I'll see you on Monday."

"Good night, Daniel."

She leaned in and gave him a hug, pulling back after a short moment, and he went to give her the platonic kiss on the cheek that they usually shared when parting from team nights or any other non-work get-together.

Sam's head tilted, though. Her right hand moved from his back to curl around his neck, and her lips captured his. Her fingers threaded their way through his hair, her thumb tracing his jaw line as she deepened the kiss. The faint taste of the strawberry shortcake that she'd had for dessert assailed his senses, giving him pause before he pulled back.

"Sam?"

"Daniel." Her eyes remained closed, her hand still on his face, until she licked her lips briefly and then opened her eyes.

"I… I'm… What's going on?"

Sam looked down for a moment before meeting his eyes. "I missed you while you were away. A lot more than I ever imagined, Daniel. And I'm not willing to let a second chance slip through my fingers."

Sam moved toward him again and before he had a moment to register what was happening, he was trapped between her car and her body. His hands instinctively found their way to her hips and he pulled her closer. She'd been driving him nuts all afternoon, but this was a leap in a whole new direction.

Sam backed away, tugging at his lip gently as she did. "Follow me?"

"Anywhere." He winced as the words left his lips. There were times he reverted to the awkward person he'd been before he ever heard of the Stargate Program.

Smiling, Sam moved back, her hand trailing down till she brushed his fingers. "I meant follow me home."

His nervous laughter wouldn't be stopped as it escaped from his throat, his hand quickly moving up to try and muffle the sound.

Sam's eyebrow quirked. He stopped, looking down and swallowing the nervousness. "I'm sorry… it's just one of those stupid, nervous thoughts that you get, you know."

Her fingers linked with his. "Nervous thoughts? Such as?"

Rolling his eyes and wondering if he was going to get slapped, he replied. "Does this mean I'll get to find out what you picked up at Victoria's Secret?"

Her laughter surprised him, the hard slap to his upper arm didn't.

"You would know that if you'd stayed in the store." She kissed him gently, "But if you must know, it's a present for Cassie. She wanted a new nightgown. Now, are you following me or getting in the car?"

Shaking his head, Daniel felt the familiar balance return. The relationship between them was definitely changing, but it seemed to be returning to a level with which he was more comfortable. "I'll jump in."


End file.
